Private Hells
by Diva-esque
Summary: Ryoma is introduced to his own private hell thanks to his caring senpai.


Aishuu Offers:

**Private Hells**

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine.

* * *

It wasn't something Fuji and Tezuka plotted consciously; no, they didn't need to do such things. Rather, Tezuka had an agenda, and Fuji, being the perceptive person he was, managed catch onto exactly what those plans were. And if there was one thing Fuji couldn't resist, it was meddling in a good plan and adding a bit of his own touch to it. 

It would, of course, work out the way Tezuka wanted it to... with a few modifications that Fuji found most amusing. All in all, if Echizen Ryoma knew exactly what his senpai had in store for him that day, he would have grabbed Karupin and crawled back into bed and not gotten up for the next month.

* * *

It was their day off from school, which meant tennis practice. 

For Ryoma, every day meant tennis practice, but Sundays were special because the club would spent the entire day together. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he liked playing against his senpai, pitting his skills against theirs... even helping avoid the Inui juice attacks which occurred with even more regularity as Kantou approached. In the last week, the regulars had managed to avoid Inui's latest "Inui Experimental Hyper Power Juice," but Ryoma had the feeling that today their luck would run out.

Ryoma smiled as he heard the familiar sound of racket hitting ball. He could tell it was the first years practicing, even though they were out of his line of sight, since the sounds were irregular and the rhythm wasn't quite right - rarely was there the perfect sound of the ball hitting the racket's sweet spot.

"Let me show you how it's done!" he heard Horio say, and it was all Ryoma could do to stop from rolling his eyes.

Ryoma was running late naturally. He was never on time but people had gotten used to that. He anticipated Tezuka making him run an extra twenty laps but he didn't really mind - it was worth sleeping in. Aside from tennis, his favorite thing was sleep and he especially liked sleeping in on Sundays.

Still, he wondered where his senpais were. Someone should have deflated Horio's ego by now...

A wicked thought crossed his mind, and he didn't even try to squash it. Every time he said something to Horio, it was like dousing him with water, and it sounded like Horio needed a little reminder of his place... it was one thing to be confidant, it was another to be arrogant. Ryoma knew the difference, and liked driving it into people's thick skulls.

Well, who better?

Ryoma rounded the corner, and to his surprise, the court was full of... girls. Girls and first years...

/Oh, no.../ he thought, noticing Sakuno looking at him hopefully. His stomach twisted uncomfortably, and he felt a bit off-balance. /What's she doing here/

"Ryoma-kun!" she called, waving a hand and taking her eyes away from the ball that was flying at her head.

He knew exactly what was going to happen with sickening certain. He lowered his brim, not wanting to watch, knowing that even if he yelled a warning, she wouldn't be able to react in time. Her reflexes were just too poor. He just hoped that she wasn't hurt too badly.

WHACK!

Sure enough, the pigtailed girl went sprawling as the ball hit her upside the head.

He sighed. He had no clue why she had taken up tennis; she had no natural talent for it, but her persistence was admirable. She was sweet and nice, but her spacey nature kept getting her in trouble.

"I'm so sorry!" another girl said, rushing over to help Sakuno to her feet. "Maybe you should sit down?"

"No... no..." Sakuno said. She smiled as she wobbled a bit on her feet. "I'm fine!"

From the way her eyes weren't focusing, Ryoma would have begged to differ. "What's going on?" he asked curiously.

"It's a joint practice!" said one of the other first year girls, smiling at Ryoma shyly. "The boys team is helping us with some skills..."

Ryoma glanced around nervously. "Where are all the senpais?" he asked nervously. The only people on the court were first years, and from the way the girls were looking at him, he was beginning to feel decidedly out of place. With the regulars and second and third years absent, he knew he was far and away the most skilled person around.

"The boy's team went to the girl's court to work with the girls' regulars, and the second and third years went with them... all the first years are here," the girl said. "We're supposed to be working on our basics."

It didn't make sense to Ryoma why the boys went over to the girls' courts. The better courts were the boys' courts, and it would have been logical to have the seniors on them, and the first years at the girls' facilities... and Ryoma could have met them. "Um, I'll go find them," he said, eager to get away from the girls, who were looking at him like he was an ice cream cone.

It might be a good idea to play hookey... he could deal with the 100 laps Tezuka would give him tomorrow...

Sakuno's face fell, and Ryoma felt a twinge of guilt, but the other girl was more aggressive. "Aren't you a first year?"

Ryoma just stared at her, not used to girls yelling at him.

"Well, you ARE!" the girl insisted when he didn't answer aloud. "Come and help me with my swing... I think I'm doing something wrong!"

Ryoma felt even more trapped than when Nanjirou started to smirk at him.

"Where's ochibi?" Kikumaru asked after executing a flying receive to the applause of the girl's team. He was thoroughly enjoying the attention of the females, playing up his acrobatics for all he was worth. The girls probably weren't learning much, paying more attention to his pretty eyes than what he was doing, but no one really seemed to care.

"Late," Oishi sighed. Watching Eiji revel in female attention made him uncomfortable, especially after the girls started to ask for autographs. Fuji and Tezuka were involved with the girl's regulars, leaving the rest of the Seigaku team to keep the other girls occupied.

It was a daunting task. One girl had actually tried to pinch him.

Momoshiro and Kaidou were in rare agreement, both looking terrified, while the girls seemed terrified of the usually quiet Kawamura, who went into burning mode with his tennis racquet. Inui was scribbling in a book, muttering about hormones and relationships, but Eiji was in his element, ever the showman.

Oishi was glad that one of the regulars seemed to be up for it.

"Would he know to come here?" Momoshiro asked, blushing when one of the girls blew him a kiss. "His sense of direction isn't the best..."

"I don't think he can get lost on school property..." Oishi replied. Focusing on where Echizen had wound up seemed like a safe thing to do.

"No. Echizen has probably arrived, but was detained by female classmates," Inui said, flipping through his book. "According to my data, 84 percent of the first year female tennis club members are also members of his fan club. That means his chances of making it here unmolested are only 14 percent."

/UNMOLESTED/ Oishi thought, wishing Inui hadn't chosen that word. "Maybe I should-"

"I'll talk to him," a voice said from across the courts.

The others started, amazed that Fuji had over heard their conversation. Then again, Fuji was always surprising them...

Tezuka paused in his stroke demonstration, studying Fuji for a minute before nodding. There was a seven percent tilt to his head that Inui knew indicated he was curious. A wave of silent communication passed between the two singles players before Fuji's smile widened even more.

"I'll be back shortly," Fuji replied. The sweet voice he used sent shivers up the rest of the regulars spines, making more than one of them feel a bit of sympathy for the ornery Echizen. Grabbing his racket, he left the court.

"I would not want to be Echizen right now," Momoshiro said, watching his senpai leave.

Oishi was silently forced to agree. Whenever Fuji wore that particular look, it meant trouble.

Fifteen minutes after he arrived, Ryoma knew there was a hell on earth - and he was in it.

"RYOMA-SAMA! Is my swing right?"

"RYOMA-SAMA! Can you help me get a more accurate serve?"

"RYOMA-SAMA! Senpai recently commented on my form... what do you think?"

The shrill questions were irritating, but no where near as obnoxious as the constant tugging on his clothes, the way the other first years were glaring at him, or the fact he couldn't think straight from all the noise. As soon as he replied to one question, two other girls were in front of him, fluttering eyelashes and clumsily attempting to flirt with him.

He wanted OUT!

"Echizen," a voice said, and all the sudden the angels of heaven began to sing.

Ryoma turned to see Fuji standing against the fence, watching the whole scene with his thrice-blasted smile on his face. Still, Fuji would be able to help him get out of there, so Ryoma wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Where is everyone?" Ryoma asked, yanking himself away from a girl with long blonde hair who had been trying to get help on her grip, which for some reason required a lot of hand holding.

"Helping the girl's regulars," Fuji said, still smiling. "How's it going?"

Echizen just gave him a LOOK.

"That's good," Fuji said cheerfully. "I came to tell you that you were needed over here, since none of the other regulars can be spared. And I know you've taught other girls how to play..." Fuji said, casting a look at Sakuno, who was still sitting on a bench.

If Ryoma wasn't Ryoma, people would have sworn he was blushing. But Ryoma didn't blush, of course.

"Oh... and since you were late, we didn't order you a lunch. Maybe one of the girls brought enough to share?" Fuji suggested innocently.

Now Ryoma was sure he was paling, feeling thirty pairs of feminine eyes fasten on him like cats going after a canary. "Um, Fuji-senpai..."

"I'll see you after practice!" Fuji said cheerfully. "Have fun!" He walked away quickly, leaving a hapless Ryoma behind.

"Ryoma-sama! I'll share my lunch with you!"

"No, mine!"

"I'm a better cook!"

"Ryoma-sama!"

As the girls closed in around him, Ryoma decided that all the rumors of Fuji's sadistic tendencies hadn't been exaggerated.

The day came to an end, as all days had to. Ryoma finally ran into the rest of his senpais in the locker room, minus Tezuka and Fuji.

"Ochibi!" Kikumaru said, grabbing the first year and giving him an enthusiastic embrace before Oishi pulled him off. Ryoma looked plain exhausted, and something in his face warned the vice-captain that the first year was on the verge of snapping. "Where have you been?" Kikumaru demanded, undeterred.

Ryoma merely gave them all a sulky look, hastily beginning to change. It was obvious he was in a hurry to get out of there.

"Enjoying Ryuuzaki-sensei's granddaughter's company?" Momoshiro teased.

Ryoma was still silent as he zipped up his pants, but Oishi detected that the young prodigy was about to explode, and hastened to intervene. "Well, tomorrow we have a morning practice, so maybe we should all get home?" he said.

"I wonder how many love letters Echizen is going to get from today..." Momoshiro continued irrepressibly, only to be rewarded by getting a tennis ball in the face.

Echizen grabbed his tennis bag and bolted for the door. The rest of the regulars just stared at where he left..

"Touchy, isn't he?" Momoshiro asked after a moment.

Kaidou hissed at him to shut up, and a minute later, the two were in a full-fledged argument.

Fuji and Tezuka made their way to the locker room long after everyone had left. Tezuka had practiced long after everyone, and Fuji had watched, always curious about the silent boy. Besides, Fuji realized that running into Echizen would have been a bad idea.

"Did you have fun today, Tezuka?" Fuji asked his captain.

Tezuka sighed, rolling his shoulders to relieve some tension. "It was a learning experience for everyone," he said.

"Wasn't it?" Fuji asked sweetly.

"You could have brought him over with the rest of us," Tezuka said after a minute.

"He needs to learn how to teach, doesn't he?" Fuji asked. "He wouldn't have the same opportunity with the rest of us around."

"Yes," Tezuka sighed, collapsing on a bench. He had worked a bit too hard, lecturing and doing too many serves. "But he didn't need to stay there all day."

"It was more fun that way," Fuji said.

"You'll never change."

All Ryoma wanted to do was go to bed and put his day behind him.

/Girls... who needs them/ he wondered.

"Oi, shonen!" an excited voice called from the door as he kicked off his shoes, "I hear you just spent the day surrounded by girls!"

Ryoma gulped and turned to face his over-excited father, silently wishing the floor would open up and swallow him.

END


End file.
